In this Nov. 1, 2005 file photo, a doctor prepares a patient for eye surgery in Chicago. Doctors say they’re becoming increasingly concerned about how they’re going to handle the swelling backlog of elective surgeries once the immediate COVID-19 threat has ebbed.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

Canadian doctors fret over surgery backlog after immediate COVID-19 crisis

Some worry their elective procedures could become urgent by the time operating rooms are available

There are also conditions that might seem relatively benign at first, like gallstones, that can develop into dangerous conditions like sepsis, or blood poisoning, if left too long, he said.

Part of the problem is that surgeons are not going to be able to catch up once hospitals start getting back to those waiting list.

While Buchman hopes the surge in virtual care and telephone appointments may help doctors assess patients more efficiently in the post-COVID-19 world, they won’t be able to suddenly start doing more surgeries than before.

“We aren’t going to bring in more doctors to all of a sudden do twice as many procedures,” he said. “They’re working at 120 per cent as it is.”

Even if surgeons could somehow work safely at greater speed, time in the operating room is limited.

The pandemic has highlighted major gaps in Canada’s systems, and health care is no different.

According to the latest estimate from the Fraser Institute, the total number of procedures people were waiting for across the 10 provinces in 2019 was over more than one million. That meant 2.9 per cent of Canadians waiting for treatment last year.

The results of delays can be devastating, according to Bacchus Barua, the think thank’s associate director of health policy studies.

“Wait times can, and do, have serious consequences such as increased pain, suffering, and mental anguish. In certain instances, they can also result in poorer medical outcomes — transforming potentially reversible illnesses or injuries into chronic, irreversible conditions, or even permanent disabilities,” he wrote in his report late last year.

It’s not clear when hospitals will begin allowing less urgent surgeries to resume, and it will be up to individual provinces to decide.

New federal guidelines say that in order for provinces to begin to reopen their economies, hospitals should have the capacity to handle those procedures, along with any new cases of COVID-19, including access to protective equipment for workers.